Q 01/05

Riverdance began as a seven-minute interval act during which 1994 television broadcast?

A) The Late Late Show

B) Eurovision Song Contest

C) Royal Variety Performance

D) Rose of Tralee

Answer · why

B) Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest put Riverdance in front of about 300 million viewers, and the standing ovation persuaded its producers to build a full sta...

Q 02/05

Which American stage style grew out of Irish jigs and step dancing meeting African-American juba rhythms?

A) The Charleston

B) Swing dance

C) Tap dance

D) The Lindy Hop

Answer · why

C) Tap dance

Tap dance grew from a blended style first known as jigging, which minstrel-show performers both black and white carried onto American stages in the 18...

Q 03/05

Michael Flatley became the first American to win a World Irish Dance title after growing up in which city?

A) Chicago

B) Boston

C) New York

D) Cleveland

Answer · why

A) Chicago

Chicago is where Flatley took up Irish dance at eleven, at the Dennehy School, and he carried off the world title in 1975.

Q 04/05

The reel, one of the first dances Irish dance students learn, reached Ireland in the late 1700s from which country?

A) France

B) England

C) Netherlands

D) Scotland

Answer · why

D) Scotland

Scotland has the earliest record of a reel, from a trial of 1590 in which the accused was said to have danced one.

Q 05/05

Embroidery on Irish dance school dresses is often copied from which medieval manuscript kept at Trinity College Dublin?

A) Book of Durrow

B) Book of Armagh

C) Book of Kells

D) Book of Leinster

Answer · why

C) Book of Kells

The Book of Kells was sent to Dublin for safekeeping in the 1650s, while Cromwell's cavalry was quartered in the church that held it.